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 Family Child Care Updates

The Alabama Child Care Consortium is funded by the Alabama Department of Human Resources.

Announcements:

The Family Child Care Advisory Committee will meet on August 8, from 10AM - noon, at the UAB Civitan International Research Center conference room. For more information contact:
(205) 934-3171 (Robin Lanzi, UAB)
rlanzi@uab.edu)
(205) 975-6330 fax

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Incremental Accreditation

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Summary of Advisory Committee Meeting
August 8, 2000

Attending:

Joy Carter – UAB Media Relations
Melonease Clark – Family Child Care Partnerships Program - Mentor
Kerri Clemons – DHR, Marshall County
Kim Collins – GRCMA – Early Childhood Directions
Brenae Duanway – Group Home Provider, Shelby County
Roxann Edsall – Family Child Care Home Provider, Shelby County
Richard Hardison – Huntsville CMA/ECC
Myra Holt - CRN – Fort Payne CMA
Jan Justice – DHR
Catherine Kreger - GRCMA - Early Childhood Directions
Robin Lanzi – UAB Civitan International Research Center
Elaine Miller – Auburn University, Family Child Care Partnerships Program
Dottie Montgomery – Group Home Provider, Talladega County
Geraldine Morris - Family Child Care Provider, Mobile
Ellouise Pennington - Family Child Care Partnerships Program - Mentor
Isabelle Potter – UAB Civitan International Research Center
Charlotte Ray – Birmingham CMA - Childcare Resources
Jennifer Scofield – YWCA of Birmingham
Lillian Wiggins - Family Child Care Provider, Mobile
Jim Willet – UAB Civitan International Research Center
Dot Willingham – Jefferson County Child Development Council; National     Association for Family Child Care

OVERVIEW OF MEETING

  • The steering committee held a conference call prior to the meeting and planned the agenda. Brenae Dunaway co-chaired the meeting.
  • Brenae Dunaway, Lillian Wiggins, Dot Willingham, and Robin Lanzi shared highlights from the National Association for Family Child Care meeting held August 4 – 6 in Washington, DC.
  • Updates were given concerning the focus areas: public awareness campaign, accreditation system, education and training, provider associations, and the Family Child Care Partnerships Program.
  • Kerri Clemons gave a brief overview of the proposed revisions to minimum standards.
  • Breakout groups were formed to identify action steps for the new focus areas. Groups presented action steps to the committee for comments and suggestions.
  • The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, October 17th 10 am – 12 pm in the Child Care Consortium’s Montgomery office, Suite 184.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR FAMILY CHILD CARE

  • The family child care initiative sponsored Lillian Wiggins and Brenae Dunaway to attend the meeting for their role in spearheading the provider association effort to develop local provider associations/support groups.
  • Contacts were made with key players in other states and organizations working toward similar goals as the initiative. Detailed information is provided in the updates and action steps section as appropriate.

UPDATES AND ACTION STEPS

Public Awareness Campaign

  • Joy Carter of UAB Media Relations shared information on different types of media relations activities that the Consortium may want to use in the public awareness campaign, including: press releases, calendar releases, news watch tips and teasers, major news releases, one paragraph awards releases, and "Profnet" media clearinghouse. Jim Willet shared a copy of some recent television coverage of SIDS and family child care homes. During the course of the NAFCC Conference in Washington, Dot Willingham was asked to appear on C-SPAN to talk about family child care. Some interesting misconceptions regarding family child care were expressed by callers to the show. The issue of addressing public awareness and understanding family child care was discussed.
  • The public awareness subcommittee identified four target audiences, and potential vehicles to reach each audience: (1) parents - Lamaze groups, hospital maternity wards, news programs, and pediatrician’s offices (videos, popular magazines, pamphlets); (2) providers - videos, news programs; (3) health care professionals - professional organization speeches and professional publication articles; and (4) corporations -contact Human Resources managers.
  • Talking points need to be developed and spokespersons for issues need to be identified and recommended to Joy Carter, for inclusion in Profnet. Quality care tips will be written.

Incremental Accreditation System

  • At the National Association For Family Child Care Convention in Washington D.C., the U. S. Air Force shared the incremental accreditation system they developed using the NAFCC system. Copies of the system were disseminated. There are four levels: provisional level – basic health and safety requirements (a provider may only stay at this level for 3 months); standard level – represents a specific set of requirements, which total 50% of all NAFCC requirements for accreditation (a provider may only stay at this level for 21 months); developmental level – represents a specific set of requirements, which total 75% of all requirements for accreditation; and the accredited level- provider must meet 90% of all requirements for accreditation.
  • Deborah Eaton, NAFCC’s Director of Accreditation, reported that the state of Connecticut compared NAEYC and NAFCC accreditation standards and found two differences: (1) NAFCC has lower educational requirements for providers but that (2) NAFCC has 10 different standards that NAEYC does not have.
  • The accreditation system subcommittee explored the possibility of using the Air Force standards as a method of recognizing providers along the pathway of becoming accredited. Additional systems will be examined as well. A key component will be incentives for providers, as well as, a method of assuring that providers have reached the various levels.

Observer Training

  • The family child care initiative will sponsor two observer trainings to build capacity within the state for qualified NAFCC observers and to promote public awareness of NAFCC accreditation and the importance of high quality family child care.
  • The first training will be conducted Wednesday, September 20th and Thursday, September 21st at the 4-H Center in Columbiana (directions are enclosed). The second training will be conducted later in the year, pending notice from NAFCC of the scheduled date. Please note that we changed the second training date from September 22nd and 23rd to a later date for two reasons: (1) the public hearing for minimum standards is September 22nd, 1-3pm at the Gordon Persons Building in Montgomery and (2) GRCMA and DHR are holding a family child care workshop on September 23rd.
  • Each training will be conducted with 30 individuals. The training and education subcommittee recommended that the following individuals be sponsored to attend the training: mentors participating in the Family Child Care Partnerships Program, a representative from each CMA, at least one or two providers from each CMA district, and other key training and advocacy representatives. Please let us know if you are interested in attending the training or would like to recommend someone.

Provider Association

  • The family child care initiative is sponsoring a statewide workshop on developing provider associations/support groups/networks. C.A.T.S. (Childcare Consulting and Training Services) will be leading the workshop. It is scheduled for Saturday, October 21st 9am – 2pm at the 4-H Center in Columbiana. This is a very exciting opportunity for us to bring together providers from all areas throughout the state to brainstorm and think of innovative ways to build support mechanisms for Alabama’s family child care providers. We want to link providers who are meeting with those that have not yet established a mechanism for meeting and help providers build support mechanisms within their community. The Consortium’s goal is to have at least one support group per Alabama county, all of which would eventually be linked to a statewide organization, which in turn is linked to a national organization. Ultimately, we would like to have a statewide conference devoted to family child care.
  • The term "Provider Association" was discussed. For some, this may seem too formal and indicative of corporate status to many home child care providers. Different terms were discussed.
  • In order to identify existing support groups and find other providers who would like to participate in such an activity, the support group subcommittee recommended enlisting the support of DHR county licensers and their supervisors, family child care contacts and directors of CCMAs, food and nutrition specialists, and FCCP mentors. Support involves asking for names of existing associations/support groups as well as recommendations for providers to contact about attending the workshop.
  • A recommendation form is enclosed for any provider that you would like to recommend and/or for associations/support groups that you know about. Also, a flyer is enclosed that you can share with providers that you think would be interested in this effort.

Family Child Care Partnerships Program

  • Elaine Miller of the Family Child Care Partnerships Program gave an update. There are currently 85 providers in active mentoring and 82 providers are in the traditional group, with approximately equal numbers of providers in the two groups per mentor. Ellaine Miller will send a detailed update to committee members.
  • Providers, Roxann Edsall and Dottie Montgomery, shared reflections on their positive experiences with their mentors and the mentoring program. Mentors, Ellouise Pennington and Melonease Clark, shared their perspective on the partnership and the benefits of the program that they have witnessed with their providers and communities.

Minimum Standards

The Notice of Intended Action will be published in the Alabama Administrative Monthly August 31, 2000, at which time the public comment period begins. The public hearing will be held September 22, 2000 1:00 – 3:00 pm in the Gordon Persons Building Auditorium in Montgomery. Everyone is encouraged to attend and participate in this effort.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held Tuesday, October 17th 10am – 12pm in the Child Care Consortium Montgomery location, conference room, suite 184 (directions and parking information are enclosed).

 

Summary of Advisory Committee Meeting
May 11, 2000

Attending:

Brenae Dunaway – Group Home Provider
Roxanne Edsall – Family Child Care Provider
Betty Gaylor – Child Care Resource Center – Opelika CCMA
Richard Hardison – Huntsville CMMA
Catherine Kreger – Gulf Regional CCMA
Robin Lanzi – UAB Civitan International Research Center
Ellaine Miller – Auburn University, Family Child Care Partnerships Program
Karen Moore – Montgomery County DHR
Geraldine Morris – Family Child Care Provider
Ellouise Pennington – former Family Child Care Provider; Mentor
Elizabeth Page – South Central CCMA
Susan Richard – Gulf Regional CCMA
Jennifer Scofield – YWCA of Birmingham
Lillian Wiggins – Family Child Care Provider
Dot Willingham – Jefferson County Child Development Council; National Association for Family Child Care
Dianne Wright – State DHR Office of Child Care

Overview of Meeting:

The goals of the steering committee were discussed and the members were introduced.

There was discussion of what the family child care needs are in Alabama and what the consortium can do to address these needs. Four new or expanded sets of activities were adopted for the Family Child Care Initiative and the Advisory Committee. Subcommittees were formed to spearhead these efforts.

The Family Child Care Partnerships Project was discussed and suggestions were made concerning provider recruitment and implementation.

The next meeting date was scheduled for Tuesday, August 8, 2000, 10 am – 12 pm in the conference room at UAB’s Civitan International Research Center.

Steering Committee:

To help guide and direct the activities of the advisory committee and the initiative, a steering committee has been formed that includes representatives from key constituencies including providers, community groups, state agencies, and CCMA offices. Steering committee members will chair the advisory committee meetings on a rotating basis and will discuss the initiative prior to the advisory committee meeting to review activities and to plan the agenda. The individuals serving on the steering committee are: Lillian Wiggins (family child care provider), Brenae Dunaway (group home provider), Dot Willingham (National Association for Family Child Care, Jefferson County Child Development Council), Dianne Wright (DHR Office of Child Care) and Myra Holt (Child Care Resource Network).

Family Child Care Needs in Alabama and Activities to Address these Needs:

The committee identified the following as the most pressing family child care needs in Alabama:

  1. Public awareness concerning child care quality, including parent education
  2. Public awareness concerning family child care as a professional business rather than a babysitting job
  3. Development of county and statewide family child care provider associations
  4. System that provides incentives for and recognizes providers who progress along a pathway to becoming higher quality
  5. Tiered reimbursement for higher quality programs
  6. Parent tax incentive for parents having their children in high quality programs
  7. More approved National Association for Family Child Care observers. Very few individuals in the state are approved observers (observer’s roles are parallel to NAEYC validators).
  8. Mandatory training for family child care providers before they are licensed
  9. Development of new training modules
  10. Coordination among the various training efforts across the state
  11. Additional funding mechanisms for educational and training opportunities for providers
  12. Substitute care – quality and availability

Four new and/or expanded activities that the committee adopted:

  1. Public awareness campaign concerning child care quality – what it is, how to identify high quality child care, and what it looks like (maybe develop a video that documents accredited family child care providers in Alabama). Also, there is a need to educate others about the National Association for Family Child Care and the accreditation system. Included in this effort is a recognition of the vital role that family child care providers play in the lives of the children and parents they care for and in the child care community. Efforts to recognize family child providers will be explored. The development of position statements concerning child care quality, tiered reimbursement, and provider training will be researched. Richard Hardison, Roxanne Edsall, and Betty Gaylor volunteered to help spearhead this effort.
  2. Provider Associations Workshops/training sessions will be organized for family child care providers interested in organizing a provider association. – Brenae Dunaway and Lillian Wiggins volunteered to help coordinate this activity.
  3. Accreditation System - To meet the need for more trained National Association for Family Child Care observers, the initiative will sponsor a National Association for Family Child Care Observer Training. The advisory committee will develop the procedures for determining the pool of potential observers. Additionally, the National Association for Family Child Care Quality Standards will be examined to develop an incremental accreditation system. Existing incremental accreditation systems will be investigated (e.g., Oklahoma, Florida, Mobile). Embedded in this activity is educating the public about the accreditation system and the importance of a tiered reimbursement. Dot Willingham, Susan Richard, and Elaine Miller volunteered to work on this subcommittee.
  4. Grant and Scholarship Program for Education and Training – The committee will explore ways to coordinate with the Leadership in Child Care Scholarship Initiative and the Training Initiative to develop a grant and scholarship program for family child care providers interested in seeking additional education and training. Catherine Kreger and Jennifer Scofield volunteered to help work on this activity.

Family Child Care Partnerships Project:

There has been a great deal of activity with the Family Child Care Partnerships Project, the statewide mentoring program being spearheaded by Auburn University, since the last meeting. Twenty-two mentors have been hired and trained. A random selection of 20-30 providers within a reasonable driving distance of each mentor were sent recruitment letters. A number of CCMA’s have written support letters for the mentoring program and have attended provider association meetings with the mentors. Mentors are conducting follow-up with the providers to determine their level of interest. Recruitment of providers is progressing very well in some areas, with almost half of the providers indicating that they are interested in participating. It is important to note that all of the providers report that at least 10% of the mentors sent recruitment letters are interested in participating. In some areas, additional recruitment strategies are necessary. A number of suggestions were provided to help increase the number of volunteer participants, including: 1) sending recruitment letters to all providers within a certain geographic area of the mentor; 2) allowing participating providers and others to nominate and enlist others to join; 3) enlisting the help of CCMA’s in having town meetings; and 4) expanding the geographic area if there are simply no more providers to invite.

From the group of providers that indicate they are interested in participating, a random group of providers will be selected to participate in the "intensive" hands-on support and technical assistance group and a random group will be selected to participate in the comparison group. All providers will be given the opportunity to apply for program improvement grants. Providers participating in the "intensive" group will receive hands-on support and technical assistance 3-5 hours per week in their home. Mentors will plan monthly meetings for the providers to network and receive additional training and will assist the providers in forming local provider associations or joining existing associations. Providers participating in the comparison group will receive opportunities to improve the quality of care through more traditional means, such as attending training sessions, reading written materials, using information and resource libraries, and networking with other providers in their local area. All providers will be given the opportunity to apply for program improvement grants. Documentation of child care needs will be conducted by independent, well-trained researchers at the beginning of the project and at 6 month intervals with all providers.

Next Scheduled Meeting:

Advisory committee members adopted at one of the first meetings the strategy of alternating meeting places between Montgomery and Birmingham. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 8, 2000 from 10 am – 12 pm in the first floor conference room at the UAB’s Civitan International Research Center.

Committee members endorsed efforts to maintain information concerning the progress of new activities and the mentoring program on the Consortium web site.

Family Child Care Partnerships
Project Update
May 1, 2000

The Family Child Care Partnerships Project is a statewide mentoring program for family child care providers that seeks to help improve the quality of child care services delivered, with a special focus on helping them become accredited, and to foster the development of local networks. The Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Auburn University is administering this project, with Dr. Ellen Abell as project supervisor and Ellaine Miller, M.S., as project coordinator. Dr. Robin Lanzi of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Civitan International Research Center serves as project liaison between Auburn University and the Consortium.

Project Activities include:

  • Meetings with advisory committee to discuss goals and activities
  • Networking and information sharing/gathering meeting with CMA family child care contact person(s)
  • Family child care providers will work with a partner/mentor for approximately 6 month intervals in their homes.
  • Two mentors have been hired in each of the CMA districts (with two exceptions as noted below*).
  • A random selection of providers within a reasonable driving distance of each mentor were sent recruitment letters. Mentors are conducting follow-up with the providers to determine their level of interest. From the group of providers that indicate they are interested in participating, a random group of providers will be selected to participate in the "intensive" hands-on support and technical assistance group and a random group will be selected to participate in the comparison group. All providers will be given the opportunity to apply for program improvement grants.
  • Providers participating in the comparison group will receive opportunities to improve the quality of care through more traditional means, such as attending training sessions, reading written materials, using information and resource libraries, and networking with other providers in their local area. Providers will be also be given the opportunity to apply for program improvements grants.

Providers participating in the "intensive" group will receive hands-on support and technical assistance and will involve the following:

  • Each mentor will assist up to 5 family child care providers in their homes by providing on-site support and technical assistance for 3 to 5 hours per week for each provider.
  • Mentors will schedule visits with each provider at various times of the day so that she is on-site to observe various activities within the home (i.e., arrival, departure, learning times, outside time, free-play, rest or nap time, etc.).
  • Mentors will be role models, modeling developmentally appropriate practices as they interact with the children and providers.
  • Mentors will provide assistance and guidance by helping the providers in a variety of areas including business practices, interactions with parents, interacting with community agencies, and balancing work and their own families’ needs.
  • Mentors will offer specific support and technical assistance to be determined by the specific needs of the providers as well as predetermined training topics (e.g., developmentally appropriate practice, health & safety, nutrition).
  • Mentors will assess the quality of care and the environment as well as the providers’ needs according to methods provided by the project coordinators (Daily Activities Record, NAFCC self-study assessment, Family Day Care Rating Scale, etc.).
  • Mentors will assess the need for equipment and learning materials necessary for attaining national accreditation and help providers apply for grants for these materials.
  • Documentation of child care needs will be conducted by independent, well-trained researchers at the beginning of the project and at 6 month intervals with all providers
  • Mentors will plan monthly meetings for the providers. Monthly meetings will provide the opportunity for providers to network with peers and receive additional training in a group setting.
  • Mentors will assist the providers they work with in forming local provider associations or joining existing associations.
  • Mentors will assist the project coordinators in gathering information to develop regional networks that coordinate local services and a clearinghouse of information for statewide resource and referral services (e.g., 1-800 number for child care providers, parents, etc.).

In March, 22 mentors throughout the state were hired by Auburn University. The mentors came to Auburn, March 27-29, for an intensive pre-service training where they participated in workshops and received information on various topics, including the National Association of Family Child Care, developmentally appropriate practice, interpersonal skills of mentoring, and assessing the quality of care.

The mentors listed below will be working with family child care providers throughout the state.

Mentor and CMA District

Glenna Caldwell, Anniston
Stephanie Gilchrist, Anniston
Lisa Comer, Birmingham
LeArden Pike, Birmingham
Dionne Edison, Demopolis
Augusta Watters, Demopolis
Melonease Clark, Dothan
Valerie Woods, Dothan
Karla Martin, Ft. Payne
Karyl Spillman, Ft. Payne
Cathy Collier, Huntsville
Valerie Moody, Huntsville
Ellouise Pennington, Luverne
Hannah Shakespeare, Luverne
Facethia Hogue, Mobile
Gloria Sutton, Mobile
Lisa Nimmer, Montgomery*
Antonia Freeman, Opelika
Michelle Keesee, Opelika
Medella Watson, Talladega
Deborah Wesler, Talladega
Elizabeth Crocker, Tuscaloosa*

*The noted districts have one mentor at this time.

Advisory Committee Minutes
March 1, 2000

The Family Child Care Advisory Committee met on March 1, 2000 to discuss the development of the family child care initiative, with a special focus on the mentoring program. Sixteen committee members were present at this meeting. The goals of the initiative were discussed, along with a summary of the initial advisory committee meeting and a discussion of current and future activities. Below is a summary of these discussions.

Goals of the Family Child Care Initiative

  • To help providers raise the quality of child care services delivered;
  • To promote healthy business practices and minimize the economic pressures that child care imposes on a provider’s family; and
  • To help foster the development of local, regional, and statewide networks and associations.

Summary of Initial Advisory Committee Meeting

See description provided in the Family Child Care Report 12/99.

Current Activities

The activities of the family child care initiative thus far have focused largely on the development of a mentoring program – the Family Child Care Partnerships program. The Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Auburn University, under the direction of Dr. Ellen Abell, is spearheading this program. Ellaine Miller and Jennifer Hruska serve as the Project Coordinators. The mentoring program seeks to help family child care providers improve the quality of child care services provided, with special attention on helping them become accredited and networked within the community and larger child care context.

It is anticipated that two mentors will be hired in each of the Child Care Management Agency districts, with each mentor providing intensive support with at least 5 providers. Job descriptions and position announcements were disseminated to committee members and to Child Care Management Agencies, Extension Agents, and posted on the state job listing. Currently, there are 43 applicants; however, there are a number of districts with no applicants. Committee members discussed the need to inform everyone of the Family Child Care Partnership Program as well as the mentor position and steps that could be taken to achieve this. It is anticipated that the mentor pre-service training will occur March 27 – 29, 2000 at Auburn University.

Providers will be randomly selected to participate in the program. The following recruitment procedure was discussed: once mentors are hired, providers located within a reasonable driving distance from the mentors home will be sent recruitment letters, those responding will be entered into a "selection pool" and a random sample will be drawn from this pool of providers. Providers who are accredited or who are not licensed will not be eligible to participate.

It is anticipated that mentors will work closely with the providers for at least 6 months, once a week, providing on-site support and technical assistance. Providers will have the opportunity to apply for grants for learning and equipment materials and scholarships for education, training, and accreditation.

Mentors will work closely with Child Care Management Agencies and local community organizations to plan and coordinate training and networking opportunities.

Committee members expressed the need to educate providers about accreditation and define what accreditation can or will mean to providers (comments were made concerning the past activity to enact tiered reimbursement), to raise awareness with parents about the importance of becoming accredited (so that they see it as a mark of quality child care), and to pay attention to literacy levels of materials.

Future Activities

Future activities will include but are not limited to: development of the mentoring training program, hiring mentors, recruiting providers, establishing relationships between mentors and Child Care Management Agencies and local community organizations, developing networks and associations, examining tiered reimbursement, and examining the family child care needs to inform future goals and activities.

Questions and/or Comments can be directed to Robin Lanzi at rlanzi@uab.edu (205-934-3171) or Ellaine Miller at milleeb@mail.auburn.edu (334-844-3208).

Family Child Care Initiative Report 12/99

The Family Child Care Initiative will focus on providing mentoring/training programs to family home providers (someone providing child care in their home for no more than 6 children) with early and on-going support and collaboration of key stakeholders. To accomplish this, it was recognized that open and honest communication with providers, parents, and key stakeholders must be an integral component throughout the initiative.

What do we currently know about family child care in Alabama?

  • Care is largely for infants and toddlers.
  • It is especially challenging for home care providers to attend training and workshops during the weekday.
  • Information dissemination and networking is difficult.
  • There is great diversity in the background and training of home care providers and in the quality of the family child care homes.
  • There are many family child care homes operating without a license.
  • Providing incentives is necessary for good participation by providers in programs.

What policies currently guide family child care?

  • Licensing is required for legal operation and subsidized care.
  • National family child care accreditation is available.
  • There are federal guidelines for home care providers participating in the food program.

What obstacles or barriers will be encountered as we seek to improve family child care in Alabama through the Family Child Care Initiative?

  • Acceptance by the home care providers of this program and other resources available to them may be difficult.
  • Finding a good time when home care providers can train away from the home will be a challenge.
  • Dealing with what to do with the children while the home care provider is in training will be an issue (transportation, substitute care).
  • Ensuring that there is "adequate" intensity and duration of services/training to make a difference in the quality of family child care homes is necessary.
  • Finding qualified, representative mentors may be a challenge.

What are some innovative solutions to these barriers?

  • Early and on-going collaboration and support from CMA’s is essential.
  • Enlisting the support of DHR licensing programs/agents, Food Program offices, and parents will be helpful.
  • A broad-based public awareness and marketing campaign with providers, parents, and key stakeholders should be developed. All written materials should include a logo developed for the initiative. Marketing campaigns may include: advertisements in parent and provider newsletters, voice mail tapes advertising the program, word of mouth by key stakeholders.
  • Incentives, awards, and certificates for participation should be provided.
  • Providing respite/substitute care and on-site training will be necessary. Mobile resource units may be an effective, albeit costly strategy, for conducting some on-site training and resources.
  • Development of local provider organizations/networks.

What are the best practices or standards that should guide the family child care initiative?

The importance and benefit of accreditation was recognized. The goal would be to have all participating families child care homes interested in accreditation and potentially accredited. Using the following resources:

  • The National Association for Child Care (NAFCC) accreditation standards.
  • CDA modules specific to family home care training
  • Training modules from CMAs
  • "Creating Better Family Child Care Jobs: Model Work Standards" (Center for Child Care Workforce 1999)

What are some possible funding sources for doing this?

  • Existing CMA scholarship and training program funds
  • State and federal grants
  • Corporations -- BellSouth pioneers; Children’s Trust Fund; Target stores; Kroger cash commitment; Rosie O’Donnell; Oprah Winfrey; Mercedes; Honda; small/local businesses

What type of training is needed to make this a success?

  • Family home providers must receive training on good business practices, developmentally appropriate practices, and laws and standards.
  • Mentors must receive training in personal skills/communication skills, existing resources in the project areas, and training delivery.